Customer Reviews

Children of Hollywood: Accounts of Growing Up as the Sons and Daughters of Stars

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2 star:		(1)
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Below is a list of the people covered in this book. Many A-list stars are talked about by their children and grandchildren. It's a real eye opener and a book not to be missed by all lovers of classic Hollywood. The photographs are taken from the personal albums of the children mentioned below. A candid look at Hollywood in its heyday. Great book!!


Acknowledgments      vii
Preface      1
Introduction      5

1. Arthur Marx  - son of Groucho    23
2. Billy, Alex, Jimmy and Minnie Marx - children of Harpo      37
3. Maxine Marx - daughter of Chico      44
4. Joan Benny  - daughter of Jack Benny    50
5. Gary Lewis   - son of Jerry Lewis   60
6. Damon Lanza   - son of Mario Lanza   65
7. Romina Power   - daughter of Tyrone Power  71
8. Janet Cantor Gari and Brian Gari   - daughter and grandson of Eddie Cantor   78
9. Peter Ford  - son of Glenn Ford    88
10. Sir Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - son of Doug Sr.     99
11. Harry Langdon, Jr.   - son of Harry Langdon   108
12. Leatrice Gilbert Fountain  - daughter of John Gilbert and Leatrice Joy     115
13. Chris Costello and Vickie Abbott Wheeler  - daughters of Abbott and Costello   
14. Ron Fields - grandson of W.C. Fields     148
15. Gary Crosby  - son of Bing Crosby    157
16. Sara Karloff    - daughter of Boris Karloff  172
17. Suzanne Lloyd  - granddaughter of Harold Lloyd    178
18. Eric Lamond  - grandson of Larry Fine of The Three Stooges    185
19. John Longenecker   - son of Ruth Hussey  194

Motherhood Missed      206
Bibliography      213
Index      215

I picked up this book thinking it'd be an interesting read but I
underestimated how much I'd enjoy it. Each chapter is its own individual story so you can start anywhere and read it from back to front or from the middle to the beginning. Perfect to read on the beach or on a train, etc. The stories are all accounts of what it was like to grow up as the son or daughter of some of the biggest names in Hollywood. We all know the "Mommie Dearest" story and this is an entire book of tales from behind Hollywood's sometimes secretive doors, all told by the children of the stars. The book has many candid shots of the children with their famous parents, and a photo of the child as an adult, all grown up. The photos come directly from the family albums of the celebrity children. I particularly enjoyed the chapters featuring The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, Boris Karloff and Abbott and Costello.

A great read!

Great read. Read it all at once, or dip into it now and again. Ms Vogel gets inside "Old Hollywood" for a look at the children of stars that were involved in the Hollywood contract system. Photo shoots and "pretending" to be the perfect family was the norm back then. Quite different than today's stars who try to sheild their children from the spotlight. Hollywood and movie studios were more than happy to use the actor's family as almost a "prop" at times. I've read quite a few books in this subject but this one was very different in the subject studies. Good book to take to the beach when you just want a quick read on a chapter or two!

A compilation of excellent stories,telling the impact
positive or negative of being born a child to a Hollywood
Star.The stories are first hand which makes it so interesting.
Most of the chidren interviewed are middle-aged,the progeny
of the "Old Hollywood Star System".
Even the actors and actresses,you may only be familiar with from late night movies or TCM,it is well documented in the
form of first person.
Some are the early stars from Broadway Comedy.When they were
able to "make it" in Hollywood,they were not ashamed of their
early roots of poverty and hard work.
They tried to instill this in their chidren who were born
without a material want.If they cared about their families
and were spending their "off worktime" with them,the chidren
were happy.
Some like Cheryl,Lana Turner's daughter,yearned for her
mother.Chris Costello,daughter of Lou Costello,and Vicki (Abbott)Wheeler,daughter of Bud Abbott;fared well due to
the unconditional love of their parents.Even though,Chris's
Mom and Dad died early in her life.She has many good memories
to share.
Others,like the natural sons of Bing Crosby
and his alcoholic wife Dixie Lee,suffered enourmously.Of the
four brothers,two commited suicide,one died of Cancer and
only one is now alive.
Especially,poignant was the story of Romina Power.Born to
Tyrone Power and actrees Linda Christian,she was romanticly
named after the city where her parents met and married.
However,within 5 or 6 years,her parents divorced.Then when
she was only seven years,her father died while filming.He
left Romina,her sister Taryn,her un-born brother,of his
third wife.Romina hears the stories,sees the pictures of her
Dad,but cannot recall him,although her younger sister can.
The divorce,the dealing with parental death for a young child,
has blotted him from her memory.
There are many first hand stories from children and photoes
never seen.
Like most children everywhere-there were the good,loving
parents and there were the immature narcissistic type.
They were trained to be,actors or actress'but "missed the
boat" on parenting skills.
On the whole,I gave it a five because it is a book of good
times told in a refreshing manner,without the premise of
of parent bashing,that is so prevalent in many books.

So many children of Hollywood stars have written books on their parents over the years but "Children of Hollywood" is a melting pot of some of the best A-list actors that Hollywood has ever produced and their kids and grandkids dish the dirt on how they were away from the camera...as caregivers.

Each chapter is an individual story so you can read the book from start to finish or middle to end and then back to the beginning. The photos are mostly candids from the albums of the kids telling the stories.

Author, Vogel has the ability to get the personal stories told whilst still giving the reader an overall view of the life and career of the celebrity in question. The chapter on Larry Fine of The Three Stooges is hilarious! Many comedians are covered throughout, from The Marx Bros., to Jack Benny and Jerry Lewis.

A worthwhile read! Very enjoyable with lots of insight into the private world of these classic actors of yesteryear.

Each chapter of Michelle Vogel's book deals with a different child of a Hollywood star, including such stars as Mario Lanza, Bing Crosby, Tyrone Power, Jack Benny, Groucho Marx, and others. Potentially, this book could have provided rare insights into the lives of actors of the golden era of Hollywood through the eyes of their children. In reality, though, much of the material is not new, and, thus, not rare. Some of the chapters do have new information, but much of it has simply been lifted from previously-published books. The information isn't just a quote here or there, as is to be expected in any book, but it is entire chunks taken directly from other books. Further, the author gives very scant, rather superficial commentary of her own to supplement the text written by children of Hollywood legends. She didn't really dig deep to come up with something new and insightful. When I purchased the book, I was expecting to find entirely original material. Reprinting verbatim, in some instances, from other sources came as a real surprise.


The other aspect of the book that I found particularly poor was the quality of the photos. While the photos themselves were ones that I hadn't seen before, the resolution was extremely poor. For a paperback book that costs about $30.00, you would think that the publisher would do a better job of providing high-resolution, crisp photos, rather than low-resolution, grainy photos. Of course, this isn't a reflection of the author's work, but it is an important consideration when deciding whether the book is worth the purchase.

It was a book that I was looking forward to, but it fell far short of meeting my expectations.

I bought this book after reading the author's other book on Gene Tierney and I was so impressed with her ability to get these children of Hollywood legends to tell their stories, many of them for the very first time in, "Children of Hollywood."

Even the photographs come directly from the albums of the children. Candid shots of the kids at home with their famous parents/grandparents. This is the first real look at Hollywood from the eyes of the children and it's an amazing read. For anyone who's a fan of classic Hollywood film, buy this book, the kids of these A-list actors have funny, insightful, tragic stories to tell.

A great read!

In light of the recent passing of the beautiful and talented actress, Ruth Hussey, Michelle Vogel's excellent book CHILDREN OF HOLLYWOOD provides us perhaps with a fitting tribute to this wonderful woman and her fine family as well as certain other famous Hollywood families. The chapter dealing with Ruth's son, John Longenecker, shows so clearly that not all Hollywood families have to be dysfunctional nor stressful nor tragic. There are other Hollywood families depicted in this objective book that also enjoyed loving and meaningful relationships, but there are also those that did not. Author Vogel has provided those of us who revere the Classic Stars of Hollywood with insight into their personal lives that in some cases inspires us and in other cases disturbs and saddens us. But these are stories that needed to be told, because they breathe reality into the lives of the legends that entertained us. Michelle Vogel has told these stories very well indeed.

A super book!!!!!!!!!! The great thing about this book is it focuses mainly on stars who haven't already had hundreds of books written about them. Each chapter is devoted to a different classic star and there are lots of pictures. Instead of writing biographies the author lets their children tell stories about what they were like and you really feel like you get to know these stars. If you're interested in seeing a different side of classic stars then you'll enjoy this one.

As a kid who LOVES old Hollywood comedies, I was very interested to read what it was like to grow up as the kid of some of my favorite comedians. I have to admit, I initially thought that having a famous parent with loads of money to buy anything in the world would be cool, now after reading this book, my opinion has changed. Interesting stories and nice photos make this book a must have for anyone wanting to know what their favorite star was like in their private life, as a parent - instead of an icon.